1) Interpersonal attraction refers to one's positive or negative evaluation of another person based on factors like repeated exposure, affect or emotional state, need for affiliation, and physical attractiveness. 2) Affect, or one's emotions and moods, influence attraction directly through association, indirectly by coloring one's perceptions, and can create a stigma depending on personal characteristics. 3) Developing similarity and discovering mutual liking through communication are important steps to move an interaction toward friendship. Similarity is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, and interests, and creates a pleasant emotional balance.

1. 1
Module III
Lecture 7
Interpersonal Attraction and Social Relationships: Part-I

2. What is interpersonal attraction………..?
Interpersonal attraction refers to one’s attitude toward another person. Such interpersonal
evaluation falls along a dimension that ranges from like to dislike
This process starts with initial contacts and is concerned with emotional responses,
similarities, and pleasant interactions
It is a natural feeling to be drawn to other individuals and desire their company

3. Level of Attraction Evaluative Category Example of Interaction
Strong Liking Friend Spend time together, make
joint plans
Mild Liking Close Acquaintance Enjoy interacting when two
people happen to meet
Neutral Superficial Acquaintance Recognize each other and
exchange greetings
Mild Dislike Annoying Acquaintance Prefer to avoid interacting
Strong Dislike Undesirable Actively avoid contact

4. FactorsResponsibleforInterpersonalAttraction
Factors responsible for one’s evaluation of another
1. The Power of Proximity: Repeated Exposure---Repeated exposure to any mildly –ve, neutral, or
+ve stimulus results in an increasingly positive evaluation of that stimulus
2. The Affective Basis of Attraction: What is affect? Affect is an individual’s emotional state----
feelings and moods(happy, sad, fearful). Affect influences perception, motivation, cognition,
decision-making, and interpersonal attraction
The two most important characteristics of affect are:
(1)Intensity: the strength of the emotion, and
(2)Direction: whether the emotion is positive or negative
✓ Affect influences attraction in four different ways: (1)Direct, (2)Indirect, (3)Associated effect,
and(4) Stigma (this refers to any personal characteristics that at least some other individuals
perceive negatively. This includes race, physical disability, or any other factor)

5. Stimulus Condition Emotional Response Attraction response
Positive
Evaluation
(I like this
person)
Affect-arousing
stimulus(Delicious
chocolate cake)
Neutral stimulus
(A stranger is present
when the cake is
eaten)
Affect-arousing
stimulus(Severe
toothache)
Neutral stimulus
(A stranger present
when the tooth is
aching)
Positive Feelings
Negative Feelings
Positive
Evaluation
(I like this
cake)
Negative
Evaluation
(I don’t like this
tooth ache)
Negative
Evaluation
(I don’t like
this person)
Association
Association
Direct Effect
Indirect Effect
Direct Effect
Indirect Effect

6. 3. The Need to Affiliate: This need is a basic motive to seek and maintain interpersonal relationships. Two
interpersonal patterns are likely to be followed : (1) superficial acquaintance and (2) close acquaintance
✓ Affiliation involves three approaches-
(1)Explicit motive: It is a need for positive stimulation
(2)Implicit motive: There is a need for social support, and people interact in a close context
(3)Social Comparison: This motive is activated when people interact to obtain knowledge and reduce
uncertainty. People want to compare their emotional reactions with the reactions of others which
leads to “ cognitive clarity” in order to recognize and understand their and others’ feelings
4. Observable Characteristics-Physical Attractiveness- This is the aspect of a person’s appearance that
people regard as visually appealing or unappealing.
Physical attractiveness leads to “ appearance anxiety,” that is, the undue concern with how one look. Or,
it is the apprehension about whether one’s physical appearance is adequate or about the evaluation of
other people
6

7. Moving Towards Friendship: Similarity and Mutual Liking
The next step after interpersonal attraction or closeness/proximity ,involves “communication”,
that is, the degree to which the interacting individuals discover the “areas of similarity” and
the extent to which they indicate “mutual liking” by what they say and what they do
Determinants of Similarity
✓Similarity: Similarity causes attraction. The extent to which two individuals share same
attitudes about a range of topics, is referred as “attitude similarity” , and in practice , the term
also includes similarity of beliefs, values, and interests
“Proportion of similarity” attitudes, that is, the number of topics on which two
individuals hold the same views divided by the total number of topics on which they compare
their views(that is, individuals holding same views evokes positive affect or vice –versa. Or,
the higher the proportion of similar attitudes, the greater is the liking)

8. ✓ Affective or Emotional Basis of Similarity: Balance Theory(Newcomb & Heider,1958)
This formulation states that people naturally organize their likes and dislikes in a symmetrical way.
That is, when two people like each other and find that they are similar in some specific aspects, this
represents balance, and that balance is emotionally pleasant
When two people like each other and find that they are dissimilar in some specific aspects, the
result is imbalance, which is emotionally unpleasant. In this case, they strive to restore balance by
changing one or other’s attitudes and behaviors in order to be more similar and restore the balance, or
simply decide to dislike each other
But dislike creates a state of nonbalance, that is, neither pleasant nor unpleasant , because each
individual feels indifferent about the similarity or dissimilarity between each other
✓ Mutual Liking: Once two individuals discover that they are sufficiently similar to each other, they
move towards establishing a “friendship”. This step becomes additional to interpersonal attraction.
Each individual is pleased to receive positive feedback and displeased to receive negative feedback or
evaluation
8

9. ✓ Slime Effect: At the opposite extremes, even a positive evaluation that is inaccurate or is
a clumsy attempt at flattery is much welcomed. To an observer, this flattery may seem to
be transparently insincere, but the person being flattered is more likely to appear honest
and accurate. For instance, an employee who is nice to his superiors and not to his
subordinates ; he or she is judged as extremely dislikeable and this affect is known as
slime effect. Some other examples are: flattery or ingratiation( to make oneself liked by
doing or saying things that will please people, especially people who might be useful to
you)
9

10. Thank You